Explaining the coping model for disaster from islamic perspective and comparing it with Pargament’s coping theory

Meaning-making systems have, without doubt, important role in setting goal and making meaning in to human’s life. Throughout his life span, Human being relies, especially in hardships, upon these various systems and frameworks and tries to fulfill his goals and maintain or develop meaning of life. Religion, likewise, as a meaning-making system that affects individual’s beliefs goals, and emotions. Pargament, presenting a double function for religion as an orientation-making and meaning-making system:” setting goals and offering the path to reach for them”, in a Christian frame work, has developed the most influential coping theory with a religious essence. He regards coping as a continuously changing process through which people satisfy their personal and situational needs. Accordingly, a coping is considered as religious only when the incidents, goals and the means to reach for the goal are practically interpreted in regard with the Sacred. Accepting the difference and bilateral relation between religious and non-religious coping, Pargament presents three patterns for religious coping: “self-commanding, devolving, and collective”; and acknowledging that these coping styles are affirmative and negative develops a scale of 21 types of religious coping actions through interview and literature review and  considers five main function for that . On the other hand studying Islamic systematic teachings, one can achieve a meaning-making and directive model which is helpful in different situations in life. In his model, “faith” is like a core that impacts “cognitive, emotional, and behavioral” aspects of human and makes us achieve a model of faith coping in Islam. In this research we use this model and psychological explanation of defense mechanisms in hardships, and develop a coping style called “faith-transformational coping style” in which the believer uses threatening events as an opportunity for growth or makes its harmful effects decreased. Although the Pargament’s view is tested in practice, and the Islam-based model of the proposed conceptualization (which is of course important), comparisons of these two perspectives are both conceptual and theoretical, and it can be argued that The effectiveness of Pargament theory in the field of action is evidence of the dependability of religious sources in confronting the difficulties of life.